Contending - 1 Thessalonian 2:1-4

In the time that I’ve been working on other things, I’ve been very fortunate to come across something that has really helped me understand the ancient world in which Paul was operating. One thing that makes studying the Book of Mormon a bit more difficult is that the number of theological scholars are smaller and they all consist of LDS members. But when you get to studying the Bible, our research can be drawn from not only LDS scholars but the Christian world at large, and the Jewish world is included when we get to the Old Testament. I was really struggling with Paul but I thought that I was the only one and that everyone else “got it,” so I looked up “Apostle Paul” on Overdrive, which is a library sharing media app. I came across a lecture series by a theologian names Luke Timothy Johnson that is absolutely incredible. He was able to put into words a lot of the issues that I have with understanding Paul and also helped me understand more about why the concept of Jesus as Messiah was so difficult for the ancient Greco-Roman society. Anyway, I highly recommend listening to his lecture series on Paul and in fact I have started on his series called “The Story of the Bible,” and both are excellent. 2:1-2 - One thing that was interesting about the lecture series on Paul that I listened to was that LTJ went in chronological order for Paul’s letters so he started with 1 Thessalonians, which was nice. We know that Paul didn’t write to the Thessalonians the first time to straighten out doctrine or quell disputes or anything like that. It was a friendly “I’m proud of you” type of letter encouraging them to stay on the right path. He reminds the Thessalonians that he came to be “bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention.” Does this mean that Paul went there to fight with them about the gospel and bully them into believing him? Of course not. The IM comments, “This phrase does not mean that Paul was contentious or argumentative in his preaching; instead, it implies that he taught the gospel in the face of contention and opposition. In Thessalonica, resistance to the gospel message came from both antagonistic Jews and Gentiles.” The article on this chapter from gospeldoctrine.com says, “One definition of contend is ‘to assert or to maintain in argument.’ It seems to be this meaning that the Lord used in modern revelation: ‘Content thou, therefore, morning by morning; and day after day let thy warning voice go forth.’ Likewise, this meaning may be inferred when Jude admonishes us to ‘earnestly contend for the faith,’ or when Paul says he was bold ‘the speak unto you in the gospel of God with much contention.’ Similarly, the command to ‘contend against no church, save it be the church of the devil’ may be read in this context.” Maybe instead of meaning arguing with raised voices or personal attacks, contend might mean here to reason out or to discuss a matter with someone who holds a different point of view. With that in mind, we can remember that we aren’t supposed to argue with people about the gospel, so we need always have our motivations in check. Are we having this discussion to appear smart in front of others or to make ourselves look important, or are we having this discussion because we love Jesus and the gospel and want others to have that same joy? 2:3-4 - Paul speaks to the need for proper motivation by pointing out that his own reasoning for preaching the gospel there “was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile… not as pleasing men, but God.” He’s telling them that he did not try to trick them, as so many people do even no. The IM says, “Paul’s language in these verses might suggest that detractors in Thessalonica were questioning Paul’s sincerity and motivations during his ministry in the city. Paul defended himself by describing the sincere and earnest manner in which he and his companions had taught and served the Saints.” This is really such a profound sentiment because people can almost always tell whether or not you are being genuine when you interact with them. I mean, I can’t, and now that I think about it, a lot of people can’t tell then I really just want them to leave me alone, so maybe it’s more difficult. But when we’re talking about a topic that is new to them, they might not be able to put their finger on why it makes them uncomfortable but when it feels like a transaction or like you are trying to sell or convince them of something then it makes people want to cut the conversation off as soon as possible. I like the motto “no one cares how much you know until they know how much you care.” As for the phrase “not as pleasing men, but God,” the article reminds us of the background “when the leading men of Phillipi determined that Paul and Silas could not be a source of income for them, they brought them before the magistrates of the city saying, “These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city.” Religion is a big money-making business and it was no different in the ancient world either. Just think about how much money could have been exploited out of the people with this new, highly converting for of Judaism. So I would imagine that when Paul showed up preaching and converting with this new religion, those who were already in the religious scene probably were foaming at the mouth to get them on their team. But Paul focused on pleasing God not pleasing men and he paid dearly for it because after being taken to the magistrates, they “had them beaten and cast into prison with their ‘feet fast in the stocks.’ The response of Paul and Silas was to pray and sing praises to God until there was an earthquake which leveled the prison.” This was a kick in the face for me because I’ve been wallowing lately, crying to Jesus that I’m tired of working and just want a break and my kids are mean and I’m tired. I haven’t been asked to give up everything and preach the gospel. I haven’t been beaten up and put into prison where I couldn’t move. I haven’t had to suffer because of my belief in Jesus. I’m blessed beyond measure and more than 99.99999% of the population throughout human history and I’m still mad. I was able to recognize my own negative thinking when all this came up and I remembered about how being grateful for things in my life was such a help to me before and I tried to do it again. I stopped being upset for a minute and started “counting my blessings” and it really helped.